Shall We Dance ?
by Ultrawoman
Summary: Buffy and Spike realise music really is the food of love - I promise the story is better than the summary makes it sound and there’s a fluffy Spuffy ending! Complete.
1. Part 1

A/N : I know I should be spending all my free time working on 'Always Remember - I Love You' and 'The Guy Next Door' but I've been rewatching some of season six, and this came from watching one short scene in Dead Things and also thinking about Spike when he was human (William). I promise that writing more of my other two fics is the next thing on my to do list - in the meantime I'd love to know what you think of this! (hint - reviews are more than welcomed!)

Title : Shall We Dance?

Author : Ultrawoman

Rating : PG

Pairing : S/B romance (some S/D friendship and a slight mention of X/A)

Summary : Buffy and Spike realise music really is the food of love - I promise the story is better than the summary makes it sound and there's a fluffy Spuffy ending!

Disclaimer : I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of it's characters (I wish I owned Spike, but I guess a lot of people would say that) - everything Buffy-related belongs to Joss Whedon.

Part 1 of 2

"Xander's been teaching me proper dancing for the wedding" Dawn told Spike, sitting atop the stone casket in his crypt swinging her legs over the side "I can't get it, I think I must have two left feet or something. Who dances like that anyway?" she wondered aloud as her vampire friend sat in a chair close by, looking more than a little distracted.

"Beats me, Bit" he answered, only just hearing what she'd said.

"Am I boring you?" Dawn frowned. She came to visit Spike often after school, without her sisters knowledge. Her visits had started when Buffy had died and had continued even after she'd returned. Dawn found Spike to be a very understanding friend and a good listener, but tonight it seemed his mind was on other things.

"Sorry, pet" the vampire smiled "Stuff on my mind, that's all" he shrugged.

"You wanna talk about it?" the young girl asked as Spike stood up and came over to her.

"Nah, nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about Sweet Bit" he ruffled her hair and she hopped down to stand beside him.

"I should get home anyway" she sighed, picking up her bag and books "Buffy will be home soon, she said she had a shift at the Doublemeat Palace. I might get away with not being home when she gets there, but if she finds me here I'm one dead Dawnie" she said making for the door and Spike smiled at her words.

"Okay luv" he said, avoiding the fading light as Dawn opened the door, "See ya later"

"Bye Spike" she called, disappearing into the distance.

Spike closed his eyes and sighed deeply before turning back and crouching by the trapdoor in the centre of the crypt.

"You can come out now Slayer, coast's clear" he called and waited til he saw Buffy appear. She was fully clothed now, which was not at all how he had left her, but he had guessed she wouldn't just wait around half dressed for him to finish his conversation with Dawn.

"Why'd she come here anyway?" the Slayer asked as she fully emerged from the lower level of the crypt. 

"To talk" Spike snapped "I know I'm just a good lay to you but the Bit actually thinks of me as a friend"

No sooner had he said it than he regretted it as he flew backwards across the room, the Slayers fist denting his nose with some force.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" he asked getting up from the floor and putting his hands to his wounded face.

"You think I'm that much of a user?" Buffy yelled "That I just come here for sex?"

"'S'what you told me" Spike said, carefully "Am I missing something, luv?" he asked as he moved toward her and she backed up into the stone coffin where Dawn had sat. She pulled herself up and Spike noticed how her legs swung back and forth, just like Dawns had done. There was no denying their status as sisters.

She shook her head in a negative answer to his question before changing the subject quickly.

"I heard Dawn talking about dancing for the wedding..."

"Yeah" Spike nodded, happily realising his nose wasn't actually bleeding "Whelp's been teaching her to dance like a poof apparently" he smiled slightly, coming to sit beside his lover.

"It's like old fashioned dancing" Buffy considered "You must have been taught when you were a kid"

"Yeah, so?" Spike shrugged, glancing over at her.

"Show me" she stated more than asked.

"What?" he shook his head, not really believing what he was hearing.

"Show me" she repeated, seriously, jumping to her feet "Dance with me"

"What like some nancy boy?" Spike exclaimed, incredulously, also standing up and taking a few steps away from her "You want a poofter go and find Angel" he scowled "I'm sure Peaches does a wonderful waltz"

"If you were as comfortable with your masculinity as, say, Xander, then you'd do it" Buffy sighed dramatically knowing her plan couldn't fail. She was slightly worried as Spike's featured hardened and he grabbed her arm, dragging her with him down to the lower level of the crypt. Buffy was far too shocked to protest until they finally reached their destination.

"Spike?" she watched as he dug into a large trunk beside the bed, "What are you doing?"

"Said you wanted to dance, pet" he said, setting a large contraption on a table and fiddling with it out of Buffy's view, "For that, you need music"

When he finally moved aside she saw some kind of very old fashioned record player.

"Where'd you get the stuff?" Buffy asked him, a look of confusion on her face.

"Well, I didn't nick it if that's what you were thinking" Spike snapped.

"I wasn't" the Slayer lied, as Spike turned away from her again to put a record onto the player.

"It was one of the last things my mother bought before..." he trailed off, and Buffy guessed he meant before his mother died "new thing then, latest craze" he told her, placing the needle into the groove and waiting for the music to begin.

A melody came crackling out soon enough and the crypt was filled with a melodic waltz. Spike strode purposefully toward Buffy, removing his duster as he went. He stood just inches before her and took her left hand in his right, placing his other hand on her waist. She instinctively brought her right hand up to rest on his shoulder, and without a word, the pair began to move in time to the music. 

Spike led Buffy around the room and she soon worked out where her feet should be. Once she'd found her rhythm and became more comfortable she looked up at her dancing partner and asked;

"What's the tune?"

Spike looked down at her for a second, as if considering his answer, before looking away and shaking his head.

"I don't remember"

Soon enough his eyes came back to hers and the music and the movement and the mood became hypnotic. They were moving completely together and as one, stepping, turning, all the time with their eyes engaged in silent battle, crystal blue versus deep hazel-green. The music slowed, their movements followed suit and the atmosphere became stifling, as they came to almost a complete halt. 

Buffy found herself leaning up toward Spike, expecting his lips to soon come down upon hers, but they never did. Suddenly the melody from the record became repetitive, a scratch in the surface made the tune jump badly, breaking the mood considerably.

Spike shook his head, let go of Buffy quickly and turned away.

"Guess the records seen better days" he said, taking it off of the player and examining the scratch on it. He couldn't look at her, at Buffy. Loving her was complicated at the best of times but this was too...romantic? He just wanted to kiss her, right then he really wanted to. But he knew, just like the other kisses and even the sex they had, it would mean so much more to him than it ever did to her, and that hurt him beyond words.

"I should go" Buffy realised, when Spike said nothing else. Things had got uncomfortable. She wasn't sure exactly what had happened when they were dancing, all she knew was right then she wanted to kiss the man whose arms she was in, but not like before. It wasn't about wanting to feel, it was about...she wasn't sure, but she knew she was disappointed that it hadn't happened.

"Thanks for the dance...William" she said, quietly as she made her way back up the ladder and out of the crypt.

All the way home, Buffy considered what had happened with Spike. What she'd felt at that moment, she didn't ever remember feeling before. They'd kissed a lot, they'd gone way further than kissing, but she always said she didn't love him. She didn't. Did she? Everything was all mixed up now. Was she afraid to think that she loved him? She would certainly find it hard to tell her friends, since they didn't even know she was sleeping with him. She felt bad for lying but, what else could she do. 'And here we go with some more lies' she sighed as she walked up Revello Drive. She saw Dawn go into the house just as she did, which made sense. Dawn would have taken the sensible long way home, while she took a slightly more dangerous shortcut.

"Hey Dawnie" she said, meeting her just beyond the front door.

"Before you ask, I was at Janice's doing homework" she rushed out when she knew it would be obvious to her sister she'd been out.

"Really?" Buffy raised an eye-brow, but she could hardly admit that she knew where Dawn had really been "Okay - did you finish all your homework?" she asked, knowing the answer to that should be a resounding no.

"Not exactly, but..." the younger Summers was interrupted.

"No buts Dawnie, go finish it please" Buffy gestured toward the stairs and Dawn stomped up to her room, muttering all the way.

__

End Of Part 1

A/N : Part 2 is already posted


	2. Part 2

Part 2 of 2

Spike was half asleep in his armchair in front of the TV when he was suddenly awoken by a knock on the crypt door. He was startled by the sound but more so by the fact that anyone was bothering to actually knock! Anybody or anything that you normally found outside a crypt would not have the good grace to knock, they or it would just burst in and probably try to kill you.

Spike moved cautiously to the door, picking up an axe on the way and flung open the door, poised to swing at whatever or whoever was on the other sighed.

"Oh, it's you" he sighed when he saw Buffy there. He put down the axe, turning away from her and heading back to his chair, but he stopped a few feet short of it and turned back.

"That time again is it Slayer?" he asked, "What is it tonight then? A good shagging or another round of Kick The Spike?"

Buffy looked away from his intense gaze, looking down at her feet she spoke quietly.

"Neither" 

She saw the pain in his eyes as he thought that all he was good for was sex and a way to release her anger. He meant so much more to her than that - so why couldn't she tell him?

"So what are you here for then?" Spike seemed aggravated by her presence, maybe because of what had happened the day before, neither she or he himself was sure "Information? Sorry to disappoint but I don't know anything about anything so..." he was interrupted by the Slayer as she snapped her head up and spoke sharply.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk way too much?"

The vampire was slightly surprised by her tone and it was his turn to look at the floor.

"Not entirely sure what else I'm supposed to be doing" he admitted.

"Teach me the rest of that dance?" Buffy suggested in a small voice.

"No" came the immediate answer, and Buffy knew why, she knew what could happen.

"Why not?" she asked anyway "What are you afraid of?" she knew that would get a rise out of him, for no matter how much gentler the vampire had become, he liked to imagine he kept his status as the Big Bad.

"I'm not afraid of anything" he told her, pointing a finger at her "and you'd do well to remember that"

She tried not to smile at his attempts to look evil and dangerous, she couldn't see that part of him anymore "Record's broken" he added as an excuse for not dancing anymore.

"I know" Buffy nodded, producing a package "that's why I got you this" she handed it to him and he took it somewhat cautiously. He hadn't received a gift from anyone in the longest time.

"It's not my birthday or anything" he said pointlessly, eyeing both Buffy and the package suspisciouly.

"Did I say it was?" Buffy snapped "I just wanted to give you this since it was kind of my fault that the other one got ruined"

Spike nodded as he pulled the layer of brown paper from the surprise gift and revealed a record.

"Strauss, eh?" he glanced up at her after seeing the name on the cover.

"The Vienna Blood Waltz" Buffy grinned "I though it was appropriate"

"Very funny, Slayer" he smirked at her joke before going back to examining his gift.

"So, you gonna put it on?" she suggested after a moment.

"Why?" he asked without looking up at her.

"Cos it's kinda hard to hear the tune if you don't?" she smirked in a similar fashion to the man before her.

"No, not that..." he said, as he saw her expression "Why a sudden interest in dancing and buying me presents?"

"Okay first, it was *a* present, singular not plural" Buffy said quickly "and I can leave right now if you want..." she said turning toward the door.

"You know what I want" he answered, his eyes burning holes into her back.

"Remind me" she said simply, turning back to face him. Crystal blue orbs met deep hazel globes and locked onto each other.

"Slayer...Buffy, I want you...I love you" Spike spoke slowly and deliberately as he conveyed all that he truly felt with his words and his eyes alone. After a moment Buffy replied.

"I believe you and I..." she wanted to tell him she felt the same but, the words got stuck somewhere between her heart, brain and mouth "I think we should dance now" she finished instead and he nodded slowly, almost knowing what had happened inside of her, the battle with words and feelings...

The record was placed on the player, the needle placed into the groove and the melody of one of Strauss's famous waltzes floated around the crypt flowed by two people who floated just the same as they danced together.

Circling the crypt a second, a third time, eyes locked together, tension rising with the music and in this simple act of the dance Buffy saw what she knew must always have been there - she saw William. In Spike's eyes she saw his human self, she saw the soul that should have disappeared when the demon took hold so many years ago, but he loved her and she knew it and she knew if he could overcome so much to be able to love her, it should be simple enough for her to admit her love for him, because heaven knows she felt it, right then most of all.

With no other thought in her head but that of her love for this man before her, she leaned upon and kissed him. It was nothing like before, when they slept together. There was passion but no harshness, just love.

"What was that for?" Spike asked in a quiet voice.

"I just..." Buffy began leaning into him again but the vampire pulled away sharply, turning to stop the record.

"I thought you didn't come here for that tonight" he said, sounding hurt "I thought..."

"I didn't" Buffy snapped "I...I...God, I should have said this a long time ago" she cursed herself.

"Said what?" Spike asked, seriously as he turned back to face her again. Buffy took a deep breath and began.

"I was so afraid of what I felt, because you're a vampire and after what happened with Angel and..." she stumbled on her words as she saw her lover wince at the name of his grand-sire "but I started to realise it was okay" she continued "I mean Xander's marrying an ex-demon for Gods sake, at least you were born human!"

"Yeah, for all the good it did me" Spike laughed humourlessly as he looked away.

"But it did" Buffy told him, moving forward, trying to make him understand "you understand things, what I feel and what you feel yourself" she stood close to him now, talking right into his face, making him listen, like he had made her listen in the past "You know what love is, maybe even better than I do, but I do know that...I love you"

Spike shook his head.

"Come again luv, I think my ears are on the blink"

Buffy smiled, his humour was just one of many things she loved about him.

"I love you Spike" she repeated, putting her hands either side of his face and making him look at her "William, It took me a long time to see it and I'm sorry you had to wait so long to hear it but, well, I've said it now and I mean it, honestly"

She waited for some kind of answer, but none came as he just stared into her eyes.

"Aren't you gonna say anything?" she asked in a whisper and a smile spread across his face, her words had finally sunk in it seemed, so she was surprised by his words.

"Yeah...I think we should finish dancing"

"What?" Buffy stepped back in confusion as Spike turned and re-started the record.

"May I have this dance with the most beautiful woman I have ever seen?" he smiled, stepping toward her and holding out his hand. She smiled, a brighter and more true smile than he had seen on her angelic face in a long time.

"You may have this dance, kind sir" she nodded, taking his hand, "and every dance from now on"

He pulled her close and kissed her as they they danced, not the waltz that the music suggested but their own dance to their own music, the sound of their love, and that was a melody they both knew would last forever.

THE END


End file.
